Scary Monsters and Super Freaks

Mike Sager is to drugs, porn, and crimes of desperate delusion what Dominic Dunne is to the society murder. In addition to his long-classic Rolling Stone story "The Devil and John Holmes" (which helped inspire the Val Kilmer film Wonderland) and his groundbreaking GQ piece about murdered Irish investigative reporter Veronica Guerin (also the subject of a major film starring Cate Blanchett), Scary Monsters and Super Freaks is a wonderful rogue's gallery of up-close pieces about the most public failures of the American dream.

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Publisher's Summary

Mike Sager is to drugs, porn, and crimes of desperate delusion what Dominic Dunne is to the society murder. In addition to his long-classic Rolling Stone story "The Devil and John Holmes" (which helped inspire the Val Kilmer film Wonderland) and his groundbreaking GQ piece about murdered Irish investigative reporter Veronica Guerin (also the subject of a major film starring Cate Blanchett), Scary Monsters and Super Freaks is a wonderful rogue's gallery of up-close pieces about the most public failures of the American dream. From Rick James and his drug-fueled detour into white slavery to the life and suicide of porn starlet Savannah, from deep inside the beating of Rodney King and the Heaven's Gate cult suicides to Chuck Berry's sexual predilections, this book brings to high-profile true crime a highly identifiable voice and style. Currently Esquire's Writer-at-Large, Sager takes us along for the ride with a raft of other figures including the late NWA Rapper Easy E. Winner, the FBI agent who fell in love with his informant, and the highest ranking DEA agent to be busted for drug trafficking. This is a brilliant debut collection by one of America's most respected and stylish crime writers.

First of all, if you're going to have a title like "Scary Monsters and Super Freaks", you'd better have some INCREDIBLE stories contained therein. There aren't any. Not one.

The "Super Freak" is a reference to Rick James. Ok... seriously?! I was expecting stories about all sorts of depraved, terrible individuals that committed unspeakable acts....and you give me RICK JAMES??!! That joke would ALMOST be funny, if i didn't value my time and money.

There are some good stories in here. Nothing great, and certainly nothing that lives up to that title. There's one about Rodney King which was interesting, and a few about cult figures, that I found noteworthy.

Overall, I feel incredibly misled by the title of this book. It takes every ounce of self control I have for me NOT to give this 3 stars. Based on the fact that the narrator is good, and some of the stories were actually memorable, I'm giving it 4. In truth, it's a 3.5. Had I not been misled so badly by the title, I'm sure my view of this book would've been more favorable.

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

The stories were interesting yet I found them to be told in a one sided manner, however, the odd thing about it was that throughout nearly each piece the author would flip his sides/takes. Obviously, most stories aren't black and white, yet I found the author wasn't capable of writing in "grey"...perhaps the tone of the reader takes some of the blame?? He was awful, more on him later..

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

I think they were all fairly interesting, some more annoying than others thanks to the readers attempt at various dialects...the Rodney King and Savannah stories for example, he gave me douche chills.

What didn’t you like about George Orlando’s performance?

Where do I start..I could be here all day, but instead I will simply state the most obvious and inexcusable, his butchering of pronunciation. For example in the DEA story he actually pronounced "tryst" as "tr-EYE-st" ...that one, after a series of others, actually lead to me turning the book off and having to take a break..otherwise I may have smashed my phone. I am so disgusted that this terrible reading managed to see the light of day..how can countless mispronunciations, incorrectly read names and so on make it past an editor?? How do I get this job? I can read and do lame accents as well, but I also know how to pronounce words properly...

Was Scary Monsters and Super Freaks worth the listening time?

Despite the reader, yes, it was.

Any additional comments?

The narrator is easily the worst I have encountered, thus far,in my career as an Audible listener..however, taking a shot every time he mispronounces a word or screws up a name would make for a brutal drinking game at the wild audiobook clubs I like to imagine existing in smaller towns across America. George, I feel embarrassed for you...Tryst? You botched TRYST???!! Please feel free to point out all my spelling and grammatical errors..just keep in mind I am "no pro" and my only editor is my iPhone with its spiderweb cracked screen ;-)

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